THE TIMES OF INDIA

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003

Tigers release 13 children in eastern Lanka

AP

COLOMBO: Tamil Tiger rebels released 13 children on Friday in eastern Sri
Lanka following international pressure to halt child recruitment, the UN
children's agency said.

``These 13 children can now go back to their families, back to their schools
and back to a normal childhood,'' said Andrea James, head of UNICEF in the
eastern district of Batticaloa.

Last week, the UN agency demanded the immediate release of more than a dozen
children the rebels were accused of abducting on Oct. 4, just 24 hours after
they freed 49 other children under a UNICEF program to demobilise child
soldiers.

Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham on Thursday called on the Tigers to
stop recruitment, a call often echoed by the United States and human rights
agencies.

The UN children's agency said at least four of those released on Friday were
children that had been abducted earlier in the month.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, a European team monitoring a cease-fire in
the country's two-decade civil war, said parents had reported at least 15
children abducted in Batticaloa, 220 kilometres (126 miles) east of the
capital, Colombo.

The Sri Lankan military said it had received reports of 20 child abductions,
including 13 students, in the same area.

``We still have 383 unresolved reported cases of recruitment in Batticaloa
and UNICEF will continue its advocacy on behalf of these children until they
are all home with their families,'' James said.

Human rights groups estimate the Tamil Tigers used 2,000 to 4,000 children
as soldiers during their fight for a separate state for the island's
minority Tamils. About 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before last
year's truce.

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